In South Africa, businessman Markus Jooste killed himself on March 21, 2024 in Hermanus, in the Cape region. This former director of Steinhoff is suspected of having been the mastermind behind the massive fraud which led to the fall of this multinational furniture and consumer goods company.
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With our correspondent in Johannesburg, Roman Song
In South Africa, one of the country’s biggest businessmen has killed himself. Markus Jooste, former director of the furniture and consumer goods multinational Steinhoff, committed suicide on March 21, 2024 on a beach in the town of Hermanus, in the Cape region.
He is suspected of having been the mastermind behind the massive frauds which led to the collapse of the company in 2017, leading to the evaporation of several billion euros.
Read alsoSteep fall of South African distribution giant Steinhoff
After 7 years of investigation, the police were about to arrest him. But Markus Jooste killed himself rather than face justice.
His life had been a descent into hell since his resignation in December 2017. The Deloitte firm had just refused to sign the accounts of the Steinhoff company, which were invalidated as fraudulent and inflated to please shareholders.
This decision would precipitate the fall of the multinational known in particular for having purchased Conforama in France and which dreamed of competing with Ikea.
“ I have caused financial losses to many innocent people »
Fallen, Markus Jooste would then disappear from the radar, locked behind the walls of his villa in Hermanus on which people sprayed insults against him. “ I have caused financial losses to many innocent people », he apologized in an email announcing his resignation.
Markus Jooste was wanted by German justice, his assets were frozen by the South African central bank and he had just been sentenced to a fine of 23 million euros on March 20. Worse, the anti-corruption unit asked him to report to the police by the end of the week.
Markus Jooste, who claimed to be innocent, preferred to kill himself. His story is already told in a documentary series broadcast since 2022.
With his death, this is probably the last episode that has just been written in South Africa’s biggest entrepreneurial scandal.